Remember Me
by hazydaze
Summary: Gwen works for her local police force…wait what? Didn’t she get over that? Apparently things aren’t what they seem. Eventual JackxGwen
1. Chapter 1

Pairing: Gwen/Rhys eventually Jack/Gwen

Status: Series WIP

Word Count: 1143

Chapter 1

Gwen Cooper sat at her desk, the same hum drum of the office that it had been for the last 1 year and a half. Trying to work your way up a mainly male task force was either impossible or tainted by the what if's but Gwen was determined. It was one of the things her fiancée Rhys loved about her. Gwen smiled when she thought about him. The wedding was set for 2 weeks from now but even now all her family were arriving for the big 'event'. The scanner on Gwen's desk went berserk. There was a pursuit currently on high street but several people had already been killed. All units were to proceed with caution.

"Kate?" Gwen called to her new partner, a tallish blonde who stood by the coffee machine.

"Hmm?" She turned her head, it was easy to fall asleep waiting for that coffee machine. Plus when it actually came out it did taste a bit like dish water.

"Scanner call" Gwen summarised

"Serious?" Kate asked as she brought back two cups, handing one to Gwen.

"4 dead already" Gwen sighed. She wasn't used to feeling this helpless.

"Let's go then" Kate tilted her head towards the squad car outside.

Gwen drove, rather manically according to Kate, she knew they needed to get there fast. The roads were already blocked up with the others responding to the call so Gwen took a detour. One she didn't think she even knew but she took it anyway. Driving up on streets, people yelled at her as they were almost hit but Gwen didn't apologise, she just got where she needed to be.

What had now become the scene was a piled up wreck of a car in the side pillar of a building. Their chief constable, Henderson, was looking particularly displeased as the two women approached.

"Cooper, LeFrey" The older man called. "Seeing as you are the only and seemingly competent police officers on this force could you take look and tell me what you think happened."

"Sir?" Kate looked over at the two officers who were inspecting the vehicle.

"Tell me LeFrey, how pancaked would you say that car is?" Henderson gestured to the wreck.

"A lot" Kate cringed slightly.

"Now tell me if someone could survive that" Henderson was now tapping his pen against his notebook.

"No chance" Kate concluded.

"Now tell me why there is NO driver!" Henderson almost shouted.

Gwen wasn't paying attention to what was going on with her partner and the Chief. She watched her surroundings. She had a feeling, a bad feeling. Then she saw something, turn sharpish out the corner of her eye. Turning her head quickly, she scanned for possible hiding spots. Mostly there was open air but they were in between two buildings, one with a disgruntled security guard and the other a shining beacon. With words etched into the side Gwen squinted, not trying to read them but recognise them.

"Gwen?" Kate called. "Gwen babe you alright?"

Gwen suddenly felt she was on a whirlwind, unable to get off. Suddenly, she felt sick, very sick. Kate pulled Gwen up from her position with her head between her knees. "Gwen are you remembering something?"

Gwen hadn't known she had been in an accident, she just remembered waking up in hospital with Rhys by her side. He had held her hand like he was never going to see her again. She had smiled at him happily but been quite shocked when she had seen the engagement ring on her finger.

"Well look at that!" She had squeaked. Apparently she had said that the first time as well.

"So how'd this happen? At work?" Rhys asked absently.

"Doubt I got bashed up like this at work, the police aren't that harsh" Gwen replied as she spied some chocolate mousse.

"Gwen love, what year is it?" Rhys asked as he grabbed Gwen's hand before she reached for the spoon.

"It's September 2006 silly" Gwen tossed her hand as if to say whatever.

"No Gwen, it's not. It's February 2008" Rhys said deadly serious.

"What?" Gwen's eyes widened considerably.

"Gwen" Rhys tried to calm her but it was already too late. But the doctors

"No…no…I have not lost over a year of my life" Gwen laughed sardonically.

But then there were things Gwen wouldn't remember because she never knew about them. Rhys left Gwen to get her bearings for a moment. Jack stood on the other side of the door.

"Jack" Rhys nodded.

"So?" Jack looked at Rhys expectantly.

"Not a thing about the last year and a half." Rhys sighed.

"Good" Jack nodded approvingly, his fingers grazed his lips in a thoughtful gesture.

"Good?" Rhys looked at him disbelieving. "I thought…"

"Yeah well now she can live…she can be normal" Jack nodded again more fervently, like a plan was forming.

"Jack what are you on about?" Rhys blinked as he tried to follow Jack's logic.

"I watched her, for a year. She was never Torchwood material, I shouldn't have let her…" Jack was sorry for so many things. Watching Gwen get hurt was at the top of the list.

"But Jack" Rhys tried to intercept but Jack wasn't having any of it.

"Look be happy, you're getting the old Gwen back" Jack half joked.

"It's not possible" Rhys folded his arms, there was a lot he could take but this…he wasn't sure.

"I'll make it happen. Just…just don't let her remember." Jack took one look inside the room again were Gwen was quite happily folding clothes to busy herself. "Goodbye Gwen Cooper." Jack whispered softly.

So in the time after her accident Gwen had slowly worked her way back up, there was still little things that she couldn't quite grasp but her partner Kate, who had started roughly about the same time she had returned to work, would always try her best to help her.

"Work through it Gwen" Kate assured her while rubbing the small of her back, trying to soothe her sickness.

"That…that building." Gwen pointed to what Kate called the shiny brick or the Millennium building.

"What's familiar about it?" Kate pushed gently, trying to focus Gwen's thoughts.

Standing up right Gwen tried to focus on the pavement in front of her but it was hard. It was like it didn't want you to look at it.

Averting her eyes against her will, Kate looked at her expectantly. "So…the big mirror…anything interesting?"

"I remember…" Gwen wasn't sure but what was the worst that could happen for trying? "I think I remember someone….someone called Jack works there."

"Jack? Last name?" Kate was already thinking up ways to find him.

Gwen closed her eyes and for a second it was like she could see the man named Jack and he had beautiful blue eyes.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Jack had almost held his breath when he saw Gwen hovering over the 'tourist' entrance of Torchwood.

Ianto sighed, "This obsession sir…"

Jack looked up, "Hmm?"

"It's getting quite perverted." Ianto cocked his eyebrow in a rare gesture from his usually stoic demeanour.

"I know, but I can't stop" Jack continued to watch as Gwen tried to pin place what was going on.

"Then bring her back sir." Setting down Jack's coffee Ianto was surprised when Jack grabbed his wrist.

"Hey…don't think for a second…" Jack half smiled, Ianto would stand back if Jack asked him. But being an omnisexual male had its advantages. He pulled the other man to him and pressed his lips gently over his.

Ianto blinked several times and Jack's smile grew, he may not be able to control his situation with Gwen but he had power over Ianto and it gave him a happy.

"Right…there…are…things." Ianto returned Jack's smile, a weird bunch they had become but it was home.

Kate had been watching Gwen the whole car ride back to the station and Gwen was finding it rather creepy.

"Don't worry Gwen, we'll get to the bottom of it after a cup of coffee." Kate assured her. "So any more on this Jack bloke?"

"No…it's more like a feeling, or something." Gwen shook her head. Trying to shake the cobwebs out she supposed. "Anyway what would I do without you!" Gwen laughed as she looked over at her partner. Her friendship had meant a lot but sometimes it just felt like it was filling the void of something else.

Kate made her way down to the office where Ianto stood. "He's inside" Was all he said, he could tell he was shooting daggers in her back.

Ianto opening the mechanical door and Kate stepped inside, calling out, "Torchwood Officer 53617, Katherine LeFrey."

Jack stood on the metal platform that went around the hub and obviously waited for Kate to come up.

"She's remembering things"

"I know that especially when I saw her standing outside my office!"

"I couldn't stop her without being suspicious."

"Hmm and how hard did you try?" Jack asked, his look stating his disdain for her incompetence.

"How easy is it to give retcon to someone on a mission?" Kate said in defiance.

"Back talk isn't what I pay you for" Jack surmised, not in the mood to hear this talk.

"You're abusing her Jack!" Kate called to Jack as he moved further down the railing towards his office.

"NO! I'm saving her!" Jack breathed out, his reaction so visceral, like he couldn't stop it even if he had wanted to.

"Whatever you tell yourself!" Kate turned in disgust but Jack grabbed her, not kindly pressing her against the wall.

"I will NOT let you destroy Gwen"

"But that's the thing isn't it Jack, she isn't Gwen anymore. She's fake Gwen, the one you built and rearranged to your liking" Kate countered.

"I did it…" Jack was so unsure now. He didn't know where he was or were he needed to be.

"To save her, I get it Jack but may be letting her go was worse than letting her stay." Kate sighed and sympathised with Jack.

"I wasn't going to watch her die again." Jack turned and lent on the rails above the hub.

"Die? Again?" Kate blinked. Jack turned his face to Kate and she saw his eyes were full of unshed tears.

"There are some things you don't get to know."

"Yeah well there are just some things you don't get to do Jack…Gwen collapsed. Suspected drug overdose but no one can tell what it is as she doesn't take any drugs…."

"…that they know of" Jack finished, he cursed and ran back to his office for his coat.

Gwen felt like she was on some kind of roll coaster she couldn't get off. The world was spinning, Kate had rushed her to the hospital but it was no use, none of them could tell her what was wrong, other than drugs. Gwen Cooper doesn't do drugs. No even soft core in her youth.

Vaguely in the distance she heard her mother, her accent loud and clear, "Ma?" Gwen called.

Chloe Cooper was not impressed with the doctor's interpretation of her daughter's condition. "Where did you study medicine? Hmm? Who are you?!" She bellowed at the doctor until she heard her daughter's small voice call for her.

"Gwen? Hon?" Chloe called as she went in, despite the doctor's instructions.

"Mum" Gwen held onto her mum, like and anchor in the storm that was her mind. Slowly, in her mother's embrace she began to sob. She felt so lost. So alone.

Jack arrived at the hospital soon after, Kate with him but off parking the SUV. The doctor in charged looked exasperated and defeated. "Wait you can't…"

"Dr Owen Harper, tell me what's going on here" Jack had no qualms about using Owen's name to get his foot in the door.

"We've got what looks like a suspected O.D. but stranger still what is causing all the commotion is her body its trying to purge itself of all the harmful toxins" The other doctor explained.

"How bad?" Jack asked as he turned and looked over at the door to Gwen's room. He had been here too many times, watching too many doors hoping Gwen would be alright. It was like until he got in this place he never quite realised Gwen wasn't immortal like him. He had always seen her as his equal.

"We are expecting blood anytime soon" He gestured to the packets of blood being readied for the transfusions. Jack felt sick, like he was about to throw up his whole insides for doing this to Gwen. He was pulled out of his reverie by a large scream by Gwen in the other room.

Jack rushed to the door, yanking it open he saw another woman in there, dark hair and probably in her late 40's. He double take as the woman offered her hand, "Chloe Cooper, Gwen's mother I hope you're more competent than he is."

Gwen had thrown off most of the bedding and sat in half of her uniform as she had obviously sat down to get into her hospital things. Tears streamed down her face, "I need Jack, Jack can fix this!" She cried out.

Chloe pulled her daughter's face into her hands, "Jack? Honey who is Jack? Did he do this to you?"

Gwen shook her head, "I don't…I know…Jack can fix me" Suddenly her eyes rolled back and she went down. Jack knew that now enough was enough. Picking Gwen up he carried her out and down towards the SUV. Chloe followed soon after him, "Who are you?"

"I'm Jack, Captain Jack Harkness"

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Chloe stopped and stood there blankly, "Captain Jack Harkness? Who the bloody hell is Captain Jack Harkness?"

The group of doctors who had been loitering outside called after Jack as he carried Gwen's limp body down the corridor, "Hey wait, you can't…!" They called but Jack ignored them.

Chloe snapped out of it and practically pushed the doctor over, " Sod off mate…" She folded her arms, "He's doing your job."

Jack turned and let out a breath, he was going to regret this, "Mrs Cooper, are you coming?"

"Yeah…right!" Chloe nodded and rushed back after Jack. Hitting the ground floor button, the lift arrived quickly. Jack was mindful of Gwen's head as he stepped into the lift.

Finally, when the doors closed Chloe set off on Jack, "Who the fucking hell are you?"

Jack raised his eyebrows, he was starting to see where Gwen got her personality from, "I'm…"

"Jack whatever his name is I got that part. But who are you? Gwen never mentioned you." Chloe looked like she was going to tap her foot in that don't mess with I'm her mother look.

"It's because before today she didn't remember me." Jack looked impatiently at the lift reader, they were still a few floors from the bottom. "Her memory got jogged this morning"

"But her being in hospital? What is that about? She said you could fix her." Chloe tried to wrap her mind around everything but it was hard. But it was like suddenly something dawned on her. "She knew…she knew you could save her because…"

"Because I did this to her." Jack finished, he didn't want to sit and explain why he did what he did but his mind recalled back when Rose had told him about the time Jackie had practically given the Doctor concussion for not taking good enough care of Rose.

"You…you hurt my Gwen." Jack could almost see the anger rise up inside of Chloe. She preceded to slap the back of Jack's head and the part of his arm that Gwen wasn't currently occupying.

"Geez don't give the woman a handbag for Christ sake!" Jack bellowed as Chloe ceased her movements. Chloe's eyes welled up as she watched her daughter take shallow breaths, Jack wished he could reach out and touch her shoulder, "I thought I was helping her, helping her forget."

"Forget what?" Chloe asked in a small voice.

"Forget me, and the life I brought her into" Jack sighed, the burden of what had happened felt like a anchor in a ocean, forcing him to drown. "I should have let her go when I met her, but that light…that thing that makes Gwen…"

Chloe for a moment saw a lost little boy, so unsure of everything, but the moment after the hardened man returned.

"…I couldn't resist. I had been in the darkness for so long. We all had. I just wanted the light back." Jack clutched at Gwen a bit tighter and she shifted in his arms comfortably.

"Why are you telling me this?" Chloe brushed back Gwen's hair lovingly and her hand touched Jack's for a second on the back of Gwen's head. The two came to an understanding. "It's easier to tell a stranger right? So tell me Jack, what changed?"

Jack could only remember it in flashes, his mind like with all things painful, forced it down and out of his conscious. He didn't want to remember what happened that night but he knew he had to.

_Flashback_

"You know, these Weevils are getting pretty smart. Maybe they joined a union." Gwen joked as she walked down the narrow path with Jack. She noted how much that statement reflected her life with and around Jack. The warehouse was one of those wet, damp ones as the water of the port lapped at the bottom posted. It would have been soothing on another night.

Entering the warehouse it wasn't hard to feel slightly nauseous, the smell was repugnant and unavoidable. Weevil squalor…nice. Gwen was on the tip of her toes, her body humming, Jack laid a stilling hand on her shoulder. It was so easy how his presence calmed her.

"Jack" Gwen mouthed when she heard a scratching type noise. It was strange, Weevils had never held human captives before, just a nice quick slaughter. Owen had offered up the explanation of procreation. Hell, Owen thought the end of the world was a bit sexy.

Jack nodded to Gwen and took the opposite side of the now suspect closet. Opening the door, a scared little girl no more than 16 or 17 years old, sat there locked up in chains, sobbing. Looking up she almost jumped until she realised she was obviously looking at human life again. She jumped up to Gwen the now bent down Gwen but her hand was still chained to the floor. Gwen looked at Jack, who silently pulled out his gear.

Gwen frowned when the scratching noise continued, she had assumed it was the little girl but it continued until it was louder and louder. Heading towards it, Gwen felt mesmerised by it, Jack on the other hand hissed for her to come back. But then it was too late, the noise had set off the Weevils which had set out to reclaim their prize. Gwen watched as the Weevils pushed past her without a second thought to Jack who stood, shielding the girl.

Gwen watched as they approached closer still, he wouldn't have enough time to draw his gun that was obvious. Still she had known he couldn't die but she had offered herself up anyway. She threw herself into the Weevil, knocking it down. Jack pushed backward in the cupboard, pulling his gun, he hit the first one in the head, front and centre but the next one tried to take a chomp out of his shooting arm.

Gwen was suddenly lost in a sea of Weevils, her feet kicking out at anything and everything. She felt satisfied every time her foot connected with flesh but it wasn't enough, two Weevils had managed to grab hold of her arms and two were trying to still her feet. Gwen screamed in anger as they tried but she couldn't help a yelp of pain when a Weevil, one of the ones holding her or a different one, bit into her shoulder.

Jack's head whipped up as he heard Gwen's painful scream, he couldn't see her but he could hear her. He began just firing shots at anything and everything. Weevils went down, some didn't. It seemed the group was moving towards the stairway which led to a balcony. Figured they could go up and out. Not on Jack's watch. "Gwen!" Jack shouted.

Gwen vaguely heard, Jack but she felt her blood seeping into her own jacket fast. "Jack!" She screamed back at the top of her lungs.

Jack nodded, she was still alive and conscious…two good things, two amazing things. "Gwen…Gwen! Keep talking to me" Jack called back as he started loading up his gun again. The Weevils were already on the stairs, some of them escaping out of the roof window.

Gwen blinked, her sight was waning fast. She was falling toward the blackness, "Umm…aaah? What do you want me to say?" Gwen laughed slightly hysterically back at Jack. One of the Weevils hit her with a sharp jab to the gut and she grunted hard. She spat blood back out and into its face.

Running up the now clear stairs, Jack pointed to the Weevil with blood on its mouth, the one that had obviously bitten Gwen. He shot it clean in its heart. The other two holding Gwen's arms dropped her and ran but Jack was there shooting them. Their blood would not be missed.

But still one Weevil held Gwen's limping body. Her head was lolling to the side, her eyes hooded and heavy. "Jack…" She whispered.

Jack held out his hand to the Weevil, gesturing for it to hand him Gwen, but it turned and crashed out of the adjacent window with Gwen into the water below them. Jack's eyes widened with shock. But he was already in motion, jumping out of the window after them. His body hit the freezing cold water and it made a large splash but none of that mattered. He surfaced and looked around, neither the Weevil nor Gwen could be seen. But then he saw a dark head bobbing in the water.

"Gwen" He said in a matter of fact sort of way. He turned her over, her head had a gash on it, she had obviously hit something when she entered the water. Pulling her up, he swam towards the nearest dock. He pushed her body above his and then pulled himself up to lie by her side. "Gwen? Gwen…" Jack stroked her now pale cheek.

Gwen grunted and tried to rub her nose, "Jack? What are you doing in my bed?" Gwen raised her eyebrow.

Jack laughed, "Honey you know I could be but I'm not" His gaze flicked to the sky. Gwen's eyes followed his. She smiled happily at the stars and then back at his shirt, "Jack why are you all…"

"All what?" Jack smiled, but Gwen shook her head. Jack pulled Gwen's face in his hands, "Gwen? Why am I all what?"

"Jack, it's dark" Gwen said, slightly lost and scared. Jack looked Gwen over, the gash on her head and the one of her neck where bleeding profusely, she was losing too much blood.

"Gwen stay here, stay here with me" Jack called to her, rubbing her face lovingly, trying to warm it.

"Jack…I…" Gwen's voice stilled and Jack realised it had happened, long before he thought it would.

Gwen Cooper had died.

Jack didn't blink, didn't move, didn't anything so for a time, he died with her.

_End Flashback_

Jack couldn't look Chloe in the eye, "Nothing changed but me."

TBC

Please review, as I know some people weren't happy with Jack but I think a little bit of this explains his actions quite well.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Practically running from the hospital to the SUV, Jack spared Chloe a glance but she was right behind him. Kate was frowning before she realised Jack had hold of Gwen. Yanking open the door to the back seat, Jack pushed past her and laid Gwen gently down in the back. Chloe got in after and cradled Gwen's head on her lap.

Jack's concern was plastered on his face as he flicked up his mobile phone, dialling Owen, "Owen. We have an incoming." Simple and assertive. Just like Jack. 99.9 of the time.

"Jack" Chloe called. "You really don't expect me to take that as an answer?…Take me back, tell me what happened."

Jack closed his eyes as another memory washed over him.

Flashback

Jack's tears spilled freely over Gwen's body, she was ice cold to the touch but still he hugged her body to his own, like by some miracle he could pass his warmth, his life to her.

Out the corner of his eye Jack could see someone coming but he didn't care. Owen rushed up to him, his hand on Jack's shoulder to balance himself. "Jack? What's wrong? Gwen?"

"She's gone Owen." Jack said simply. He was just done.

"What?" Owen had his are you shitting me face on.

"She's dead. The Weevils…they…they killed her." Jack knew he had to let go of her, he knew even as he spoke Owen still had a job to do. To pronounce her dead. Like having doctors credentials gave more power to Owen's words than Jack's own.

Slowly Jack laid Gwen's head on the ground, his eyes travelled her face, the hollow of her throat to her wound. His gaze had flickered there before but now he had some perverse satisfaction from looking at it. It wasn't small and delicate, it was harsh and unyielding, her flesh ripped open. Jack almost reached out to touch it but Owen stopped him.

Owen had a some point placed his latex gloves on and was now examining Gwen. His eyes watched, cold and clinical and it hit Jack in the gut. "Don't, don't touch her."

"Jack" Owen sat Gwen's hand back down. He turned to his leader, unsure.

"I said stop!" Jack bellowed. "She isn't gone. I won't let her be."

Jack had refused to let Gwen be put in a body bag so they had laid her out in the back of the SUV. Jack drove as fast as he could but he knew he only had a certain amount of time left.

"Jack what are you doing?" Owen called when Jack swerved around a particularly frightened cat.

"He thought I didn't know, he thought I wouldn't find out what it does but I did. I had to wait though, wait for the right time." Jack mumbled to himself.

"Jack you're talking crazy talk I think you maybe need to sit down" Owen threw his hands over his face, protecting it when Jack screeched to a halt outside the Millennium building.

"Get out!" Jack yelled as he entered the hub. He continued to run up to his office.

Ianto and Tosh looked at him quizzical. Owen ran in behind him. "Don't worry Jack's only gone and cracked it!"

Tosh's face became a figure of concern, Owen blinked, he forgot they didn't know, "It's Gwen. She's dead."

"Gwen?" Ianto looked at Owen then up to Jack's office. Owen shook his head.

"I think we should leave him, give him sometime. He was proper mental rambling in the car." Owen hustle Tosh out but Ianto stood waiting. "There is nothing you can do for him."

"I know. I'm sorry he finally understands how I felt…" Ianto turned aside, Lisa was something that was swept under the rug, never to be spoke of again. But sometimes, in their better moments Jack would ask about Lisa, how she had been when she was alive. For that Ianto was grateful, because love was something that couldn't be replicated only expanded. His love expanded and included Jack…included them all.

"I know mate…but let him go." Owen placed a hand on his shoulder and gently led him out.

Jack knew there would be hell to pay for doing this but it was his only chance. So he set off the little metal box he kept well hidden in his draw, no one knew about this ever.

It worked like a really big magnet…singing and calling out to its prey. And so it would come, because it couldn't deny it.

For several hours Jack sat waiting, but it was only when his mind was about to give up when he heard the motor whirling sounds he longed to hear. The blue light of the Tardis shone in the hub. Jack was grateful to it. But when he saw the Doctor's face when he opened the door, he knew he wasn't going to be happy.

"Jack" The Doctor said by way of greeting, his dark hair a continual mess and his pinstripe suit just that little bit rumpled and lived in.

"Doctor" Jack looked so hopefully in that moment.

"I can't and won't help you Jack." The Doctor said straight off. He obviously knew why Jack had called him there.

"Bring her back, bring her back to me!" Jack grabbed the Doctor, his wiry frame, no real match against Jack's muscled body.

"No Jack. I can't bring back the dead." Unmoving he let Jack's anger roll off him.

"No but you can go back in time, you can stop her. Stop me from letting this happen." Jack knew how it all worked. Once upon a time he had lived it.

"You either do this for me Doctor or I will seek you out, I will find you and kill you over and over until you regenerate no more!" Jack's eyes were wild now, he felt so unfocused and at a loss.

"Idle threats wont help you, that's your grief talking Jack" The Doctor explained slowly.

"Yeah, but wouldn't you do it? If it was going to bring Rose back?" Jack asked brokenly.

"Don't bring her into this Jack" The Doctor warned, his protectiveness of Rose knew no bounds.

"I can't not, I…I can't live without Gwen. She…she was my Rose. She showed me what it meant…" Jack could barely find the words to say what he needed to say.

"It meant to be human" The Doctor had lived 900 years but it had taken him only 1 to fall in love with a human girl because she was just that…human. She didn't care about all the debris and alien life. The wars that they destroyed them with. She had cared about the people, how she could have helped them. Rose had given Jack eternal life because she loved him. Not like she loved the Doctor but she loved him just the same.

"Even if I could Jack there would be conditions." The Doctor sighed and pinched his nose.

"Anything" Jack was ready to take on any task, no mountain too tall.

"If…If I stop this from happening, what is to say for it to happen all over again? Fate continually attempting to right itself?" The Doctor posed the question but he already knew the answer.

"What are you saying Doctor?" Jack asked his weight shifted from one foot to the other.

"I'm saying, if I brought her back, she would have to be brought back to before she ever came to Torchwood." The Doctor explained.

"Is that even possible?" Jack asked his mind going through a tornado of emotions.

"I can stop her death, but you have to stop her from being in the same circumstance."

"Which she would never be in if she hadn't met me." Jack's mind was setting it all in motion, "So she'd need to forget me? I brought her here…"

"How you do it is up to you Jack but, remember what you're giving up. She might not remember but you will. You will have to live with what could have been." The Doctor sighed, he knew and lived that purgatory well.

"To see her alive again?…Tell me where to sign." Jack agreed as he shook the Doctor's hand.

End Flashback

Chloe placed her hand on Jack's letting him it was okay, he could tell her whatever he needed to. "I made a deal, to help Gwen but I think it did more harm than good…to both of us." Jack surmised. He just hoped and prayed his foolishness wouldn't cost Gwen her life.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

After what seemed like forever Jack and everyone reached the Hub. Jack thought about stopping, explaining to Chloe what she was about to see but Gwen's breathing had taken a turn for the worse. The deep even breaths became shallower and shallower until Jack felt himself listening out for them, to make sure they were there.

"Owen?!" Jack shouted as the mechanical door opened. Owen was already running up to Jack, his fingertips pressed against Gwen's throat. "She's alive" He assured Owen and himself.

"Barely" Owen mumbled to himself as he shuffled Jack over to his area. They had no choice but to set Gwen down on the stainless steel worktable. Protecting her head Jack laid her down but unnervingly she didn't react to the coldness when it hit her flesh.

"It's okay Jack…just let me do my job" Owen rested his hand over Jack's when he still held Gwen's hand.

"Just…" Jack knew he didn't have to say it, Owen knew what was at stake.

"It's Gwen, I know" Owen nodded.

Given the timing of how everything happened the Torchwood team still remembered Gwen, that because of her accident she had to leave, not that she had ever died. At least that was what he told them, when he retconned them. Jack stood in front of what used to be Gwen's desk and pushed off all the papers. Threw the mug that sat there across the room. Running his hands through his hair, he made his way back to his office.

Kate sat in the chair opposite his own, her blonde hair dishevelled and a look of fear on her face. She sat a moment before she spoke, "Gwen is my friend Jack"

"Is she? Or is the woman I pay you to be friends with" Jack's temper darkening by the second.

"That's not fair" Kate turned out to look down on where Owen was currently prepping the intravenous line.

"No its not, but as it turns out in life there are a bloody lot of things that aren't fair" Jack sighed. He knew his behaviour was totally unfair and out of control but he couldn't help himself. He knew he was the only one to blame for this.

Chloe stumbled into Jack's office making the two turn, "What the fucking hell is that thing?!"

"Thing?" Jack wrinkled his nose when he made his what face.

"That flying…!" Chloe practically had a heart attack right there.

"Myfawny?" Jack laughed, he had been so busy he had forgot about Chloe. "Umm…well Mrs Cooper there is probably a few things you should know about Torchwood."

------------------------------------------

Chloe sat with a dumbfounded expression, her face had a look of horror but her eyes were full of wonder, it reminded him of Gwen when she started. So horrified by its inhumanity but so open to its possibilities.

"And my Gwen worked here?" Chloe asked, biting her lip.

"Yes." Jack said evenly.

"And she liked it?" Chloe blinked several times.

"Yes she did." Jack smiled with the sometimes over enthusiastic nature of Gwen. That and how when she did get over excited ,she let loose a sex mad alien.

"But there is so much I don't understand" Chloe was grasping with a half truth, the whole team was. But Jack knew he could never tell them the truth.

"I'm sorry but you never will" Jack smiled sadly, he had come to be fond of talking to Chloe, she pushed him back into memories he otherwise would have forgotten. Of course he never told them what they were.

Suddenly there was hysterical rapid beat of the heart monitor, Jack was the first one out there, "Owen?"

"She's crashing, her heart can't take the strain anymore." Owen was prepping a syringe with some kind of solution. Jack raced back down from his office to Gwen.

"Gwen" He called, as if she could somehow hear him. The monitor was still hysterical but Owen injected her with whatever and seemed convinced it was going to work. And it did, a little too well, the machine was reading no heartbeat now. It just stopped, there was eerie silence, listening to that fatal monotone sound of no heartbeat.

"No! You don't get to do this! I saved you! I goddamn saved you Gwen Cooper!" Jack shouted, he almost shook her with the force of it. But the monitor refused to change.

------------------------------

Gwen felt like she was in a really bad dream, she walked down a corridor with no doors but yet she could see in the rooms, various times of her childhood. She heard the laughter at when she had been bought her first skipping rope when she was 5. But then she heard little whispers.

_You__'__ll never stop._

"Stop what?" Gwen tried to listen harder but it was like the voices grew fainter.

_I don__'__t love him._

"Love who?" Gwen loved Rhys, she knew that. So why would it say that?

_Not like I love you_

"You? Whose you?"

_So much love for the eternal man_

"Eternal man? I think you're off your rocker mate" Gwen laughed nervously. Suddenly, she was tumbling into black. Falling on her face, Gwen grunted and rolled over. She saw herself with a man she had never seen before. He was tall, dark brown hair, dressed in some kind of 1950's military shirt and trousers.

"Come on Gwen? Are you telling me you won't be able to dance at your own wedding?" He laughed, it was deep and throaty and it made the other Gwen laugh automatically.

"No…no I can shuffle, sort of" The other Gwen laughed, but Gwen watched as her eyes sparkled.

The man offered his hand, but the other Gwen frowned, "There's no music" He smiled and pulled her to him, he slowly hummed under his breath and took a step forward, forcing the other Gwen to take a step back.

_Love not another, but know true love._

"What is this? Who is that?" Gwen frowned, she looked for the voice but still nothing.

_But like all things it has a price._

Gwen turned to see another scene unfolding in front of her. The other Gwen smiled happily at the darkened sky and then at his shirt, "Why are you all…"

"All what?" He smiled, but the other Gwen shook her head. The man pulled the other Gwen's face in his hands, "Gwen? Why am I all what?"

"It's dark" The other Gwen said, slightly lost and scared.

"Gwen stay here, stay here with me" The man called to her, rubbing her face lovingly, trying to warm it.

"…I…" Gwen's voice stilled, the man's face crumpled, like he had seen something he hadn't seen before. Tears welled up in his eyes.

_Only in death can you know life. _

"Jack" Gwen whispered, as the man bent over what she now knew was her dead body.

Suddenly Gwen was tumbling in the darkness again, her mind clogged with so many knew thoughts.

---------------------------------------------

Jack was at a lost all over again, until he felt Gwen's hand move, "Gwen?…Gwen!"

There was a slowly and steady heartbeat coming through on the monitor, Jack could see her eyes twitching under her eyelids. "Gwen it's okay, come on…come back to us."

"Jack?" Gwen croaked before opening her eyes just a little and then closing them again. Jack on the other hand was completely confused. How did she remember him?

"What the…?" Jack said aloud mostly to himself.

-----------------------------------------------------

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"You remember me?" Jack asked without being able to keep the shock out of his voice. Gwen still had her eyes closed but her hand now grasped Jack's tightly.

"Umm…sort of. I remember how I feel…felt about you, I don't know it's really confusing." Gwen slowly opened her eyes and sat up.

"Just talk me through it." Jack had learnt to be patient in his many years waiting for the 21st Century.

"I remember dancing…you were making fun of me." Gwen laughed somewhat at the memory.

"Yeah, you could only shuffle before me." Jack smiled as he stroked Gwen's hand, she neither pulled away nor responded.

"I remember…" Gwen squinted with effort.

"Hey don't worry about it, we've got time to figure this out." Jack nodded. Owen took her vitals, suddenly becoming animated from his previously quiet almost frozen state. He finished his routine and motioned for Gwen's mother to come down and see her.

"Mum!" Gwen called with relief. Chloe smiled and went over and hugged her daughter.

Owen pulled Jack aside and back up to the main part of the hub, "So explain"

"Explain what?" Jack asked.

Tosh and Ianto had slowly made their way over to where the two stood, suddenly they had become a formation, the three over the one.

"You're different Jack." Ianto pointed out and part of Jack couldn't bare to hear it from him.

"When Gwen left you changed, but now she suddenly turns up? No memory, O.Ding on retcon?" Owen pushed. "Something isn't right here."

"I don't know what you're talking about" Jack turned to walk away but Ianto grabbed him by the elbow, pulling him back.

"We can help Jack" Ianto offered. His face so open, but if he knew what he had done, he doubted he nor the others would be able to forgive him completely.

"There isn't anything wrong, so we help Gwen and we send her on her way…okay?" Jack eyed each one of them. "_Okay_…"

Each of them muttered their fines and went back to their work stations. Gwen had gotten of the table and was walking around, staring at all the various things on show. Gwen was at this moment staring down a Venus flytrap from the Crab Nebular.

Jack laughed, "I wouldn't do that…it does actually eat people"

Gwen pulled back quickly, "Oh…well…isn't that…interesting."

Gwen moved on to the next flower and Jack followed, watching her face as she intently examined the plant. She turned to him her eyes asking him what it was.

"_Pelargonium graveolens _or rose geranium." Jack slowly bent down and picked one of the pink flowers, handing it to Gwen she took the plant shyly.

"What were we to each other Jack?" Gwen asked as she walked further into the greenery.

"What do you mean?" Jack turned his back, avoiding the question.

"You obviously know what I mean, and you think I wont like the answer." Gwen stood with her hands on her hips.

"Why can you remember me but not remember who we are to each other?" Jack countered.

"Why do I get the feeling it is usually like this between us?" Gwen laughed.

"That's because it usually is." Jack lent on one of the tables, "You always think you know what's right. Always trying to make me see the humanity in everything."

"Jeez I sound a bit boring don't I?" Gwen smiled gently.

"Nah, it gives me perspective, something I didn't have before you." Jack make a gesture of brushing something off.

"So we worked here together?" Gwen gestured to the hub where they could see Tosh working on her intergalactic space continuum perpendicular straightened thing, Jack couldn't quite remember. "Umm…where is here?"

"Here? Doesn't really matter." Jack knew he needed to avoid all the questions he could about Torchwood. He knew he couldn't drug her again, it would be complete idiocy.

"Well considering there is a giant pterodactyl flying around…well you know." Gwen made gestures to things flying around her head.

Jack frowned slightly, "What is it with the Coopers and dissing Myfawny"

Gwen looked at him blankly, "The pterodactyl."

"Stop bullshitting me Jack" Gwen stop and turned, Jack almost ploughed into her as he walked behind her.

"Got no idea what you're talking about" Jack smiled innocently but he knew it wasn't going to work.

"Liar, see I know there is something else I need to remember and I'm guessing you know what it is." Gwen didn't stop there, "My thinking is you're the reason I can't remember what it is. Tell me Jack did you poison me?"

Jack's face was completely sombre when he replied, "Now when you say it like that…"

Gwen reacted instinctively, whacking him hard on the chest. "You bastard."

"I did what I had to." But Gwen wasn't having any of it, she continued to punch and hit Jack until he grabbed her arms trying to still her. "Stop Gwen, stop!"

"No!" Gwen shouted, moving away from Jack, "No I will not stop!…" Tears began to streak her face, "Because here I am standing here with no bloody clue why I love you but I know that I do!"

"Gwen…" Jack tried to pull her back but she wasn't having any of it.

"What have you done to me Jack?" She sobbed, Jack took her back into his arms but this time she didn't protest. She feigned trying to push him away be Jack knew she didn't want that.

"God what am I? A wet blanket? Was I always like that?" Gwen tried to laugh but it came out a bit strangled. She felt like she was two people now. The new Gwen she knew or thought she knew she was and the old Gwen that Jack and the others obviously knew.

"No you were very macho, some might even say butch" Jack laughed as he let go of Gwen. Jack gently wiped her eyes but stopped when she stiffed. Even now he forgot that she wasn't the same. They didn't have this kind of relationship.

Not anymore.

TBC

A short chapter to precede a large chapter with all the answers.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Jack sat in the boardroom looking out over the hub, Gwen sat by her mother's side as Owen was giving a demonstration of what looked like a really bad jaws remake. Tosh laughed animatedly as Owen clapped his hands together. Jack frowned when he realised Ianto wasn't down there.

"Coffee sir." Ianto offered Jack the cup as Jack turned.

"Thanks" Jack raised the cup, in a sort of toasting gesture. "You know you really have to stop calling me sir."

"Maybe I like it." Ianto smiled not all that innocently. Jack cocked his eyebrow, now there was something he could work with. Jack now sat on the desk and he pulled Ianto over to where he was by the belt loop of his trousers.

There was a sort of crash at the door, Gwen stood looking at them, wide eyed and apologetic. "Umm…I was…well…"

"Gwen" Jack called.

"No it's fine, I was…just to tell you that Rhys is here." Gwen averted her eyes and stumbled back out of the door.

Jack sighed and Ianto straightened up his jacket. Jack gave Ianto's arm a gentle squeeze as he took a breath before going to face Rhys.

Gwen practically jumped into his arms as she saw him. She had almost died and then she had all of these mixed feelings about Jack and she thought she had seen him about to kiss one of his co-workers.

"Babe!" Gwen hugged Rhys who then suffered a deficit of oxygen.

"Gwen love let go will you?" He asked as she did and sucked in a large breath.

"Sorry" Gwen laughed nervously.

Jack and Ianto appeared at the doorway to the boardroom and Gwen suddenly felt very red. Jack on the other hand didn't seem to be affected by it at all, Rhys offered his hand, "Jack"

"Rhys" Jack shook his hand firmly and then released it.

"Quite homoerotic" Gwen mumbled, Jack blinked and looked at her as if he didn't quite catch her. She shook her head as if to say nothing.

"Rhys can I talk to you in my office?" Jack asked.

Gwen frowned but Rhys nodded, "Sure"

"What the hell is going on Jack?" Rhys shouted as soon as Jack closed the door.

"Nothing we can't handle"

"Can't handle? Gwen almost died, she had no heartbeat!" Rhys continued to shout.

Jack frowned, "Who told you that?"

"Owen" Rhys calmed slightly as he spoke again, "I did what you asked Jack I didn't ask the questions I didn't let her remember but I get a bloody call at work that my fiancée has collapsed of a suspected overdose."

"That wasn't supposed to happen"

"But it did" Rhys sighed, he thought that they were free of this place but he knew that they would never really be. "Which means you have to tell her whatever you didn't tell me."

"No" Jack said vehemently, he had worked too hard to keep Gwen safe.

"I know in some sick and twisted way you think you're protecting her but whatever you're doing isn't working. You need to tell her." Rhys pushed.

"I tell her and bad things will happen." Jack admitted.

"What?" Rhys looked at him like he had grown a second head.

"Because she made her choice and she didn't choose you." Jack looked Rhys straight in the eye as he said the words.

"If you are having me…" Rhys began but Jack interrupted him.

"You know I'm not. Whatever was going on between you two before, I don't know. But…" It was Rhys' turn to interrupt.

"I already lost Jack, from the moment she met you I had lost, I just didn't know it." Rhys sighed before he spoke again, "But it doesn't mean I won't fight like hell to keep her."

"Wouldn't have it any other way." Jack half smiled as Rhys got up. "But you know you will lose everything."

"Why is that then?"

"Because I'm Captain Jack Harkness and I never lose." Jack's face was stone cold as Rhys left the office. His face not that much different from Jack's.

"You ready?" Gwen asked but Rhys didn't answer. She followed him out of the base trying to get his attention. "Rhys…Rhys? Rhys!"

"What?!" Rhys shouted, Gwen pulled back.

"What happened in there? Why are you being like this?" Gwen demanded.

"There is only so much I can take Gwen" Rhys admitted.

"What are you talking about?" She looked at him as if he was the maddest hatter on the planet.

"Game over Gwen. I give. I'm never going to beat him" Rhys turned as Gwen's eyes filled with tears.

"You're breaking up with me? But…we're getting married." Gwen shook her head as if she could shake this situation right out.

"No. Not while you're in love with someone else"

"In love with…? I love you!" Gwen cried as she tried to pull Rhys back as he turned to walk away.

"You don't love me…you might have loved me before but…but now you're heart..." Rhys sighed. "I thought if we stayed together we might get back what we had but…"

"But what?" Gwen waited, waited for the reason the man she thought she loved was leaving her.

"I can't wait around for you not to choose me." Rhys for the first time looked relieved but Gwen was crushed.

"But I…" Gwen was about to say she chose him but he stopped her.

"The only person you're lying to is yourself. Goodbye Gwen" Rhys walked away but Gwen didn't follow him she just collapsed to the ground. Unable to move unable to breath.

"Gwen" Jack said as he came up the tourist entrance of the hub. But Gwen ignored him as she sat on the ground.

"Gwen" Jack tried again.

"What did you say to him?" Gwen asked absently as she contemplated the night sky.

"What do you mean?" Jack asked but before he could stop her Gwen was up and holding him by his coat lapels.

"What do you fucking mean! What the fuck did you say to make him leave me!" Gwen shouted as Jack stood there calmly.

"He made his choice" Jack said simply.

"Or you made it for him huh?" Gwen punched Jack on the chest much like she had before. He didn't stop her.

"You think it's a game you think it's fun to fuck up my life?" Gwen ranted, "Who the hell do you think you are?!"

"You're not one of the regular people Gwen." Jack stated as Gwen continued to rave.

"I'm not? I think I fucking well am! I was getting married just like a bloody regular person!"

"Gwen I…"

"Don't. Don't you dare say it!" Gwen started to pace as if she was trying to fix this.

"You can't stop it and you don't think you want to."

"You don't want me you want someone to play with Jack" Gwen shrugged as if what she said was nothing.

"No" Jack almost shook her again when she said that. After everything that had happened to them.

"No so it wasn't you I distinctly remember about to make out with a man in his office?" Gwen shouted.

"Don't you bring him into this" Jack shouted back.

"Not like you did to Rhys?" Gwen shook her head, she didn't want to hear this.

"Not the same thing" Jack tried to point out.

"Why is it not the same thing Jack?" Gwen stood with her hands on her hips waiting for an answer.

"Because he was never in on the game not like you two." Jack was almost smug.

"What are you talking about?!" Gwen looked at him

"Yes. Yes Gwen I think you remember a bit more than you're saying." Jack countered. "I mean come on look at me. Tell me who I am. Am I? Captain bloody Jack Harkness, he'll shag it if it's good-looking enough, right?!" Jack wiped his mouth in a uncomfortable gesture.

"No…no…no!" Gwen was saying to herself like a chant that was going to protect her.

Jack grabbed Gwen by her shoulders, "No I'm not…not to you so tell me! Tell me who I am. Or better yet tell me what you remember."

Gwen shouted right back, "Alright! I remember being dead! The kind of dead you don't come back from!"

"What about this? Do you remember this?" Jack kissed her, his mouth rough over hers, biting her lips harshly almost drawing blood. He pulled her into the circle of his arms, her body soft against his. Gwen's hands curled around his neck and her hands in the soft hair at the nape of his neck. Letting go only to breath, Jack moved away from Gwen, whose cheeks were now flushed and her lips swollen from his kisses.

Jack waited for the words he knew were coming, "It was how we said goodbye, before you injected me with the first round of retcon. To make me forget that you raise me from the dead."

_Flashback_

Through time and space there are a million moments each more original than the last. Each meaning something more than the last. For Jack, he was waiting for one moment to be altered.

The Doctor appeared at the scene of the…incident. Jack was standing on the dock, looking out on the ocean. The two men stood side by side, "It's done" was all that was said., until the Doctor turned to leave.

"Doctor" Jack called as he turned.

"Jack?" The Doctor replied.

"I spoke to her once. Rose…after she…died" Jack admitted. It was something he had held on to for so long waiting for the right time.

"Yeah? What did she have to say for herself?" The Doctor was his cheery self but Jack could see the steel than ran through the centre of the Doctor. The steel core and will that made him brilliant but it also protected him from everything else. Except Rose.

"She said the usual. Torchwood this and that. Also…that she knew. She knew everyday and she missed you." Jack shrugged, trying to be like the Doctor. But they were family. Much older than what he had with the team. No more important, but what they had ran deeper.

"Oh and Jack I'd watch that Gwen of yours, she actually asked me if the TARDIS was a shag box." The Doctor replied, change the subject. It was always easier to do that.

"What did you tell her?" Jack laughed, just like Gwen to ask the…hard questions.

"Not really but you had sure as hell tried." The Doctor did his goofy half grin. "Take care Jack."

"You too Doctor." Jack smiled.

Jack sighed as he made his way back to the hub and his office. It was well into the early hours and everyone had gone home and he figured he'd deal with the fall out later.

Flipping the switch that lit up the hub Jack barely noticed Gwen sitting with her feet up on her desk. Jack turned back and did a double take. Gwen was sitting with her feet up on her desk but her feet were clad in black high heels and she was wearing a tight dark blue dress that stopped short a few inches above the knee. The thing was strapless and seemed to be battling with Gwen's chest as she slowly took breaths in and out.

"Figured I tempted you into not retconning me" Gwen got up and did a little twirl.

Jack nodded a did a sort of gulp. It had been a long time since a woman had dressed up for him. It had been a long time since he had felt this way or something like it.

"Definitely reconsidering" Jack admitted as Gwen walked down over the grates to where he stood. "How does a woman come to own something like that?" Jack asked as he looked down was met with the not unpleasant sight of Gwen's chest.

"Wedding" Gwen smiled.

"Who's fucking wedding did you wear that to?" Jack laughed.

"Old school mate. Tall leggy blonde…god I hated her." Gwen admitted.

"Yeah those leggy blondes, real bitches" Jack joked trying to lighten the atmosphere.

"Jack…" Gwen started.

"It's already too late. I'm sorry." Jack looked away, he couldn't look at her sweet face as he betrayed her. "My friend, my Doctor, he already gave you something. Something stronger than I could ever give."

"No!" Gwen tried to pull Jack back, back to her. "Jack please. Take it back"

"I can't…I can't let you die Gwen Cooper." Jack pulled Gwen into a hug. "You will never know how sorry I am."

"Jack…" Gwen was already getting drowsy. So Jack did what he would never allow

_Spend all you're time waiting for that second chance,_

_For a break that would make it okay_

_Memories seep through my veins _

_Maybe I'll find some peace tonight._

"I love you Gwen but I have to let you go." Jack brushed back Gwen's hair as she descended into her deep sleep. She needed to sleep this off in a hospital before Rhys was told. Before any of them were told.

"Jack" Gwen murmured, before she leaned up and kissed him desperately, trying to hold onto some part of him. He slowly kissed her back as she pulled him down, her hands gripping tightly to his shoulders. Her lips stilled under his own and he knew she was gone. Or the Gwen he knew was gone.

_End Flashback_

"So I remember, it doesn't change anything" Gwen stated.

But Jack brushed his hand over her cheek and instinctively she turned into it, "You're wrong, it changes everything."

TBC

Review or I will withhold chapters :D


	8. Chapter 8

------------------------------

Chapter 8

Gwen had stormed to the nearest off-license since her argument with Jack and bought a cheap bottle of vodka to make herself feel better.

She had somehow ended up on a park bench looking out on the water. She was surprised when she saw Rhys walking towards her. He smiled gently as he brushed her hair as he sat.

"Rhys." She smiled back a little too happily.

"Gwen what are you doing?" Rhys asked her as he took the bottle and a swig off of her.

Gwen didn't bother with pretence, "We were getting married Rhys."

"We were" He concluded.

"What happened?" Gwen asked as she took the bottle back.

"You met Jack." Rhys was done with pretence too.

"Why does everything come back to fucking Jack." Gwen muttered as she sipped the vodka.

"'Cause he's in love with you." Rhys pulled Gwen up trying to help her walk some of it off.

"I think that hobo of the high road is in love with me, doesn't mean you're going to leave me over it." Gwen countered.

Rhys pulled Gwen up to face him, "It's not how he feels about you I'm worried about, it's how you feel about him."

"I don't know who he is! I sure as hell don't love him." Gwen lied, she knew she should but she did.

"Gwen." Rhys gave her the tone of voice that said he knew she was lying.

"Okay so he has nice hair." Gwen admitted. "But he's a fucking omnisexual!"

"Omnisexual?" Rhys looked bewildered.

"Anything shaggable Jack's probably done it" Gwen explained. "Men, women, aliens!"

"Aliens? Really?" Rhys propped Gwen up against the balcony that followed around the sea's edge.

"So they tell me." Gwen took a large swig of the vodka and swayed.

"So I see you found her" A clipped voice entered Gwen's murky mind. She blinked, "Ianto?"

Rhys nodded, "But I think she should come home with me."

"She is a Torchwood employee and we will see to it she is well looked after." Ianto promised as he wrapped his arm around Gwen's waist and started to guide her to the car. Gwen slammed her hand on the SUV when they finally got there and turned to Ianto. "What are we doing?"

"Going to the hub" Ianto explained as he opened the door.

"No I mean what are we doing with Jack?" Gwen asked as she threw the now empty bottle of vodka.

Ianto shifted uncomfortably, "I don't know what you're talking about"

"Come on Ianto when are we going to realise he won't stay with us." Gwen sighed.

"I have faith in Jack" Ianto brushed back Gwen's hair as it precariously plastered itself to her face. "You used to have faith in Jack." He held her face for a moment before returning to his side of the car.

"That was before I died." Gwen muttered as she stumbled into the car.

---------

"Owen you wanker!" Gwen greeted him with a hug, Owen frowned and looked at the others. Ianto made a drinking gesture and Tosh nodded.

Unsure, Owen hugged her back, "You alright Gwen?"

"No my boyfriend doesn't want to marry me." Gwen turned and walked over to the sofa before sitting on it. "Hmm this is nice."

"Something happened with Rhys?" Tosh asked as Ianto hung up his and Gwen's coats.

"Yeah, well they were talking when I met them." Ianto told the two.

"Maybe he finally clicked that Jack and Gwen want to shag each others brains out…" Owen said mostly to himself, looking up at Ianto, he mumbled, "No offence."

"None taken." Ianto replied curtly.

In all of their conversing, none of them noticed that Gwen had moved from the sofa to Jack's office.

"Jack." Gwen said as she entered the room.

"Why do I get the feeling I'm about to get spanked when you call my name like that?" Jack called from his position on the floor. He was currently going through files but had run out of room on his desk.

"Tell them to leave." Gwen said simply, ignoring Jack's comment.

"There is work to be…" Jack's words were cut off when Gwen yanked him up by his shirt collar.

"Tell them" She almost hissed, her anger palpable in the room.

"Gwen" Jack tried to reason with her but she was too angry to listen.

Gwen turned to the door of Jack's office, not far from the light switch was a fire alarm, without even covering her hand Gwen shattered the glass. Jack looked at her, shocked, his gaze when immediately to her hand, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Large amounts of vodka" She explained as she absently watched the three leave, taking shelter against the rain. Going out to the balcony, she checked that they had all left.

"Yeah the thing with the fire alarm is that it…" Just as Jack said it the sprinklers came on, "Sets off the water." The two became rapidly drenched.

"Come on we need to get out of here" Jack told Gwen as he went to grab her arm she didn't move. "Gwen, move!"

"No Jack" Gwen stood firm, Jack was tempted to carry her out of there. Trying to pull her again he was rewarded with a punch to the face. "You ruined everything!" She began throwing everything she had at him but it didn't mean anything. Not really.

"I'm not going to fight you Gwen" Jack told her as she punched him in the face again, "I can't die either so this is going to get real old, real fast."

But Jack wasn't about to accept a crotch shot when Gwen shot her foot out, grabbing her foot, Jack twisted and Gwen fell to the ground. Gwen might have been down but she was still kicking and screaming.

"It's all your fault! You…you ruined my life!" Gwen got up and sent Jack hard into the railing on the upper levels of the hub. The metal gave way but Jack held strong, until he was sure enough that he would land without breaking his neck. Landing on his feet on the main floor he looked back up but Gwen was already pursuing him.

"Okay so you're having a bad case of PMS Gwen I get it but I think we might need to talk about it." Jack had let it go but now she was getting over-worked, this was something more than alcohol.

"You want to talk? Then fine! Let's talk" Gwen stood on the stairs, slowly making her way down when she ripped her shirt open from neck to stomach. Jack could plainly see where the Weevil had bitten her. The scar had healed but roughly, a visible mark of her…ending. She had almost reached him when Jack walked forward to meet her. His hand hovered over the scar, almost afraid to touch it.

"I died Jack, I should have stayed that way." Gwen admitted without looking into his eyes. "I know what you're going to say, you couldn't let me go. But maybe you should have."

"Gwen I saved you because , this place, you, Ianto, Owen and Tosh you're my family. I'd do it for any of you." Jack answered truthfully.

"Even asked you're doctor friend with the blue shag box to bring me back?" Gwen smiled gently.

"It's called the TARDIS." Jack laughed.

"Makes sense now." Gwen said absently.

"What does?" Jack asked her as he brushed her wet hair out of her face. She lent into his touch.

"Tell me you love me." Gwen asked turning away from Jack. He blinked, slightly confused for a moment. But he did as she asked.

"I love you Gwen Cooper." It felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

"Tell me that you love me and that's why you had your friend bring me back with the heart of the TARDIS." Gwen turned back, looking into his eyes, he saw a spark in her eyes he only ever saw in his own eyes. The spark of eternal life.

"You're…" Jack stumbled slightly as he tried to wrap his mind around what she was telling him.

"I can't die…just like you." Gwen stood awkwardly as Jack was speechless.

"Oh and by the way Jack, I love you too" Gwen smiled as Jack pulled her to him for a kiss.

-------------------------------------

This chapter was for Ria who gave me the idea.


	9. The End

Wow, chapter 9! How'd that happen? I've never written so much so fast in my life. Well, I do it for you…and the reviews you write me. Oh and this chapter has sexiness but nothing too outrageous I kept it family friendly.

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Chapter 9

"I mean how?" Jack asked as Gwen tried to fix her shirt. The sprinklers had stopped but the two were drenched. Jack had offered Gwen a dry shirt from his closet. Standing in Jack's small kitchen Gwen felt a bit like she was in the lion's den.

"It's no use I think I'll have to bin it." Gwen carried on scrubbing at the shirt absently, ignoring Jack's question. Jack laid down the fresh shirt on his newly bought person sized bed.

"Fine bin it then." Jack turned Gwen to him at the waist, unbuttoning the last of the buttons himself. He pulled the material down her shoulders and threw it somewhere behind him. Gwen gulped, she had forgotten how easily Jack could command a room and/or her.

"Well?" He looked at her expectantly.

Folding her arms she tried to protect herself, "I don't know what you think…"

Jack chuckled, "As much fun as that would be, I meant what I said. What happened?"

"Oh…so you don't…" Gwen let out a breath of…relief?

Jack quirked an eyebrow and stepped further into Gwen's space, "Hey if that is how you want to occupy…"

"Okay fine Jack I'll tell you." Gwen sighed and picked up Jack's shirt, she thought about inhaling it but she didn't need to, Jack had followed her and stood right behind her. She could practically feel his warm chest at her back. So she slowly breathed in the air, strong and manly with a light scent of soap.

Jack watched as Gwen lost herself in thought, he slowly pulled the shirt from her grasp, she barely noticed. He brushed her hair from her forehead as she stared dozily beyond him. Gently he placed the shirt around her shoulders and put each arm through slowly, it was a simply act he had never really indulged in before. Being with someone who needed looking after. Not that Gwen did, but to allow someone in, to be that person for them. It was new and he found he liked it.

"He was tall, not tall like you but tall…his hair was up at all ends." Gwen laughed as she remembered the man who had changed her life. Or her death.

"Yeah? I noticed that too." Jack smiled as Gwen began her story of the man known as the Doctor.

_Flashback_

Gwen remembered walking down to the docks with Jack, they had been informed of a Weevil disturbance down here. But she had somehow got separated from Jack and blinked as she peered into the darkness. "Jack?"

"He can't hear you?" A man said. He stood on what looked like a balcony, a large blue police box behind him.

"I'm sorry I don't know what you're talking about." Gwen said pleasantly before turning to be on her way.

"I can't let you go that way." He repeated.

"Okay look…" Gwen touched her hand to her gun holster on her hip.

"Oh no really, a gun?" The man asked as he ran his hand through his scruffy hair, Gwen noticed he was wearing a dark brown three piece suit with thick framed spectacles poking out of a pocket.

"Who are you?" Gwen asked pulling the gun out, she kept it low. The man was obviously unpredictable.

"I'm the Doctor. Sometimes Jack's doctor, apparently he wants me to play doctor on you." The Doctor twittered away to himself.

"I doubt Jack asked…" Gwen was stopped when the Doctor snapped his head up. She looked around as if to say what?. Then she could hear it, a scream, a deafening scream pierced the air. But Gwen knew better that anybody that was her own voice. She began to run down the path. The Doctor ran after her, but she stopped when she saw Jack pulling her out of the water. He was calling her name, she wasn't responding.

"What…what is this?" Gwen asked as she watched Jack pour himself over her, his tears hitting various places on her.

"This was the day you died Gwen Cooper." The Doctor's voice was soft but true. She moved to walk down further but the Doctor caught her arm. "You can't go any further."

"But if I'm dead…" Gwen didn't understand but the Doctor turned her to him.

"I brought you back, back to life." The Doctor told her as she stared at him as if he were mad.

"You brought me back to life? You?" Gwen asked disbelieving.

"Yes me. What's wrong with me?" The Doctor asked mildly offended.

"Well it's just you're so…and that big blue shag box." Gwen pointed in the direction of the TARDIS.

"That is a police call box! And also the TARDIS which in fact saved your life, missy." The Doctor scalded her.

"Missy?" Gwen asked, trying not to laugh.

"Yeah I know, bad right, better out than in" The Doctor said offhandedly as he led Gwen back to the TARDIS.

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"So the heart of this big blue box saved my life?" Gwen asked as she began stroking the metal of the TARDIS.

The Doctor watched on amazedly, "You're taking this extremely well."

"You saved my life, I think thank you is a little beneath us." Gwen smiled as the TARDIS almost purred as she rubbed it lovingly.

"Okay that's enough you too" The Doctor pulled Gwen away. "There is more…"

"More?" Gwen looked at him questioningly.

"Jack made me a deal" The Doctor sat down on a chair which seemingly just appeared.

"A deal?" Gwen asked.

"He wanted you alive no matter what, no holds no bars…" The Doctor's mind taking him off to another place before returning back to what he was saying, "There is a price to this life you have now."

"What price Doctor?" Gwen suddenly felt very sick.

"Did Jack ever tell you it was the heart of the TARDIS that brought him back?" The Doctor watched as realisation descended on Gwen.

"Doctor…are you saying?…Doctor you have to tell me…what you're saying…" Gwen began to hyperventilate.

"Gwen Cooper you will never die." Part of the Doctor was truly sad for Gwen. Her life would never be the same again.

"But…why?…why would Jack do this to me?" Gwen asked as the tears began to fall.

"Listen to me Gwen, he didn't know the price. All he knew was that he loved you and he couldn't lose you." The Doctor helped Gwen to her feet and guided her to a seemingly eternal bright light.

_End Flashback_

"I remember waking up in the hospital with Rhys asking me what day it was. For a long time I didn't know why. But I never forgot what I'd become." Gwen smiled at the buttoned shirt before she pulled off her sodden trousers.

"What is that?" Jack asked as Gwen grabbed her towel and began rubbing her legs.

"Immortal, like you Jack" Jack took the towel from her and held onto her hand.

"Tell me about the first time, the first time you died and came back." Jack sat down on the end of the bed and Gwen joined him, her fingers laced with his.

Gwen watched as Jack's eyes traced her face, he'd been doing it ever since she came back, she definitely thought he didn't know he was doing it. He was like he had to keep reassuring himself that she was still there.

She impulsively leaned over and kissed him. His lips were always soft, or they had been the two times she had kissed him. But so many things were different now. She was different now, but somehow they had ended up on a level playing field.

Slowly he pulled away from her, cupping her cheek, rubbing it with his thumb, "Gwen…"

_Stutter shook and uptight_

_Pull me out from inside, _

_I am ready, I am ready, I ready, I am fine._

"It's okay Jack." Gwen slowly began unbuttoning the buttons Jack had so gently done up before. Gwen's eyes fluttered shut when Jack gently kissed the soft skin on her neck, it was something she had always liked, but he just seemed to know straight off. The shirt slipped away easily, Jack's own shirt not long after that.

Gwen slowly ran her hands over Jack's arms marvelling at a man so large could be so gently. She almost wanted to laugh, but Jack's heated gaze stopped her. He looked at her like he was dying and she was his salvation. In some ways it had been like that for both of them.

Jack kissed Gwen hard, with everything he had been holding since he had lost her, he wasn't kind about it either, he bit her hard, forced his tongue into her mouth, tasting every inch of her. His hands make quick work of her bra, it was simple enough for him to just push her underwear down to her ankles. But Jack smiled against Gwen's mouth when her hands pulled off his belt.

Then Jack pulled away for a moment, staring at Gwen's flushed face, her lips swollen from his kisses, she would stay like that forever. It wasn't an unappealing thought.

"Stay with me Gwen." Jack asked Gwen out of the blue.

"What?" Gwen blinked as if he was mad.

"I can't tell you that I'll stop flirting 'cause well…" Jack made a gesture to himself, "I can't tell you we'll be normal because we aren't. But I can offer you forever…so…stay with me?"

"Forever?" Gwen hadn't even thought that far ahead. She was thinking about having a curry on Tuesday. She let herself fall into a slow smile, "Always Jack bloody Harkness."

_No one gets to come in_

_Pull me outside from inside_

_I am folded and unfolded and unfolding I am_

_Colour-blind._

_------------------------------_

_End_

Yep it's all over...Good? Bad? Indifferent?


End file.
